Blood of Rome

Ab Urba Condita

Tertia Julia Comitor’s seventh Decade. The number of attendees present at the celebration numbers less than half that of the previous gathering. Only the coterie show representation by the cult of augurs. Bassianus announces his personal conversion to the Sanctified cause in conversation shocking Comitor into silence. Only Marcellarius Corbulo responds, laughing uproariously. Three weeks later Corbulo disappears.

The rebellion is squashed. Bassianus’ troops stand victorious but strength of the Legio Mortuum is cut by nearly a third. The Peregrine Collegia continue to fragment and some bands grow strong enough to force a withdrawal of the legions troops from their districts. The Legio Mortuum strikes an uneasy bargain with the mercenary defense of some bands in an attempt to maintain order.

The Emperor Julian is slain and the Coterie is the first in Rome to learn of it. They present the news to the Senex. Chaos erupts and someone suggests a nobody Julii to lead the Senate. Somehow he gains support and nobody has a good time. Some of the coterie follow the speaker who caused the disruption and find that it is a Strix in a Legio Mortuum corpse. The Strix escapes due to the coterie’s growing madness and lack of perception (can anyone say ‘earthmeld’). They report this news to the war crow who seems greatly concerned. Julia Sabina suggests they keep an eye on the new upstart Julii and they witness his assassination and clear Victrix of the act.

Medicus, Servius and Avitus are invited to a meeting with the Warcrow. There they witness an alliance between him and Hostilinus of the Lancea Sanctum. They help defeat an assassination attempt at the meeting and win favour of two of the most powerful vampires in Necropolis. Selling out begins as Avitus finally joins the Legio Mortuum and Medicus joins the Lancea et Sanctum. Servius stays true to his principles or perhaps was just too distracted by all the blood Avitus drank.

It is apparent that the Warcrow has written off the Julii as either being ineffective at maintaining order or as future victims of the Strix. He makes his position firm that he will do anything to stabilize Necropolis. The characters are sworn to secrecy.

Eupraxus asks the coterie for help as he is being hunted by his own cultists. The grudgingly agree to help him and are accosted by his followers and by Vitericus’ band of zealot Vampire hunters. Vitericus is killed by his own people and Eupraxus escapes Rome, sent to Egypt by the group. The coterie present the information that a group of well informed vampire hunters is loose and is ignored. Helvidius wants to act and is angry at the Senex’s lack of action.

The Emperor Julian attempts and fails to reinstate the official worship of Apollo. The Senex is caught in a dilemma, trying to maintain the integrity of the law while honouring the rapid reversals of Imperial decree. Many of the vampires in the Peregrine Collegia begin to openly ignore the rule of law, choosing to maintain pockets of self governed order within their districts. The Legio Mortuum is kept busy breaking up the Collegia that go too far.

In defiance of law, Appius Ferasius Constans holds a great sacrificial ritual, appealing to Jupiter, Apollo and Mars for Romes protection. Constans is taken prisoner by soldiers of the Legio Mortuum and escorted to the Senex, who reluctantly sentence him to death according to the letter of the law. A riot erupts, disrupting the Senex assembly and spreading throughout the Necropolis. Constans briefly escapes and is subsequently recaptured and destroyed. The Coterie briefly plan to save him but then decide it is too dangerous.

Flavianna Galla is named Regina Sacrorum. While she is careful not to decry Constans destruction, she also makes no statement of intent to follow the law. Those who worship with her know that Galla secretly conducts regular sacrifices to Cybele and that she practices the Venificia.

The city of Nicomedia is destroyed by a violent earthquake. Several prominent Sanctified Missionaries are destroyed. Popular support begins to shift back to the Cult of Augurs, who gleefully attribute the earthquakes to the wrath of the gods. Appius Ferasius Constans calls for the re-legalization of pagan sacrifice in Necropolis, arguing that only by properly appeasing the gods can the Kindred of Rome hope to preserve themselves. The motion is proposed and defeated in an assembly of the Senex.

A brothel in the Coteries territory is turned into a convent. There is a ‘saint’ a burning and a lot of finger pointing. Thais, the saint, dies but refuses to burn. Her body disappears. The Coterie meets and hates Vitericus Minor.

The Emperor Constantius visits Rome. Tensions between the Arian and Nicene factions of the living Catholic Church threaten to erupt into open conflict. The Lancea et Sanctum seems poised on the edge of schism even as the Sanctified count victory after victory in the legislative chambers of the Senex. The Kindred of the Cult of Augurs frequently predict the imminent destruction of the Sanctified movement, pointing to numerous omens to enforce their statements.

Tertia Julia Comitor’s sixth Decade. All attendees consider the celebration a great success. An uncharacteristic peace is maintained between the vaticanators of the Cult of Augurs and the Missionaries of the Lances et Sanctum. Comitor herself welcomes both with equanimity, encouraging her guest to forget the strife of the world above and enjoy her hospitality. Julia Sabina, Marcellarius Corbulo, Helvidius Bassianus, Thascius Hostilinus, Flavianna Galla and Appius Ferasius Constans are all in attendance – the last time they are found in a peaceful gathering together.